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Published: January 28th 2007
Me in Times Square
Not a safe place for epileptics.So i finally found a computer that would let me access my blog page! Wouldn't let me upload any pictures though but tomorrows mission is to find somewhere that will, so give me 24ish hours and there will be some loud and possibly amusing pictures to accompany what turned out to be a bit of an essay!
So... time for an update... we finally arrived in New York mid afternoon last Sunday with a bag full of summer clothes and felt the cold big time! Some days it was as low as -7 degrees and all i was armed with was a beenie and a thin Fruit of the Loom hoodie! Doh! Our hostel is on Lexington and 94th street on the Upper Eastside, a few blocks from South Bronx, although it seems like a really safe and peaceful area to be quite honest. We found out on the first night it is a 40 minute (bloody freezing) walk to downtown where all the action happens both during the day and after nightfall. It wasn't all bad though coz on the stroll we found a 3-storey Disney store with a massive section dedicated to Pirates of the Carribean including a
Central Park
The huge ice rink on Central Park matches the huge cost to have a go! full-on pirate ship and lifesize zombie pirates, arrrrrrr!! Carrying on with the toy theme we found a huge Toys R Us store with a ferris wheel in the middle of it and a larger than life lego Jack Sparrow, arrrrrrrrr once more. First time i saw Times Square it was pretty crazy, so much going on everywhere you turn and all the memorising bright lights, you really do have to see it to appreciate it. On two seperate nights at Times Square i was approached by someone saying 'hey you look like you appreciate black music' (do i?!), before giving me headphones and trying to sell me their new CD they were trying to get released! The second time i was cornered i listened to a few tracks (after firstly making it clear that i had no money coz i am on a budget ain't i?) and they were all really well produced with real good mc-ing. The guy kept telling me its really hard to make it in NY and said to spread the word in London. I said aaaaaight mo fo, eastcoast reprazent, big tings a gwan bumbaclart..... and off i strolled. He digged innit. And before i
Eastside Manhattan
The view from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. forget - i still don't understand the 'free left turn' thingy for vehicles at the traffic lights when it says the pedestrians are able to cross, what the hell is that about?! We got an unlimited subway ticket which you can also use on the buses which ended up being a lifesaver after hours of strolling day-in day-out - and i thought all that cycling to work and back everyday had conditioned me, had it fook!!
Most mornings i have been going to this amazing bagel bar on the way to downtown Manhattan where you can get the biggest egg and cheese bagels with some chocolate milk for next to nothing. Kinda makes you feel a bit sick but sets you up for a day of pacing around in this hectic concrete jungle. We thought we best do all the touristy things with it being the first visit to New York and coz i figured otherwise i will come home and get 'why didn't you go there?!'.... we visited ground zero, although not a particularly touristy thing to do, which was pretty eerie. Part of one of the stairwells is still standing, and some of the Twin Tower's structure
Manhattan
The Manhattan skyline taken from the boat to Liberty Island. beams, as they are working around it. The area the Twin Towers took up is absolutely huge, and i mean HUGE. There are still buildings around it that are damaged and some are still being deconstructed, pretty damn wierd experience all in all. Right near to ground zero we went to an exhibition called 'Bodies' which was created by that crazy German doctor who controversially performed the human autopsy on TV a few years back. It was kind of a detailed look into every part of the human body, room after room of corpses that have been sliced, diced and put back together again in different poses which, although kind of skinless, look almost alive! I seriously wouldn't like to be the nightwatch security at that exhibition i tell thee! Sounds a bit sick but it really was interesting and educational! They even had pickled conjoined twins, exciting.... There was strickly no photography and you had to give everything in at a bag check, like that was going to stop me! Think we covered pretty much all of Central Park, visited the Strawberry Fields which is a quiet area dedicated to John Lennon but it was closed off for renovations so we didnt get to see it in all its glory.
Also went to the Laugh Factory, which is a world famous comedy club, and saw an evening of stand-up. They were all really different with a different style and take on things, apart from the fact they all seemed to enjoy taking the piss out of the 3 groups of English peeps present, one of which was of course Cheryl and myself. One joke that stuck in my head was by one guy who said he named his daughter Granny so that no guy would ever want to get her in the sack.... i can see how that might work! Obviously did the touristy thing and went up the Empire State Building, stupidly on a day that even at ground level i was frozen from the neck upwards.... on the 86th floor it was so cold it was dickriculous i tell thee, had to nip back inside every few minutes to keep the circulation going! The view more than made up for it though, and the magical lift that somehow managed to whisk you up there in a matter of seconds and made your ears pop. Spent a good half hour trying to find how to get onto the pedestrain section of Brooklyn Bridge, gave up and accidentally strolled across a film set which created some funny looks from the film crew. Watching the local news a bit later we found out it was Will Smith filming a new movie down there so keep an eye out for my Hollywood debut aight?! I'll be the pasty shivering whiteboy looking lost and confused!
On Wednesday it was free-day at the Bronx zoo so we braved the long journey through the Bronx and checked it out. Was well worth the trip coz i didn't get a cap-in-my-ass and got to see a near-on 6ft long snapped turtle and an anaconda being fed a huge guinea pig.... well, we saw it get put in the tank but the anaconda wasn't up for performing infront of an audience. Also found out that guinea pigs are a man-made creation from us messing around with some kind of other animals i can't remember the names of.... therefore it is offically okay to kill them (soz Granny Coats) coz they are our creation, not mother natures or something like that, i dunno, anyway.... That night we went to see the legendary hardcore band Unsane supporting the legendary punkrock band The Dwarves (if you know who they are you will know this was epic on a uber scale!), all-in-all a fine eve of leg-ends. The Dwarves guitarist played naked in a gimp mask as has now become expected of him, nice. Was really odd being at a punk gig where noone was allowed to smoke. Worked out good for me coz it meant i could wear the same clothes the next day and only smell of my odour, sweet. Did the other touristy thing and got a boat out to the Statue of Liberty so we could take some pics of the Manhattan skyline, was pretty amazing to see the skyline you see in all those pics and films. On the way into the statue they make you go through a metal detector and stand in this wierd tunnel that blasts you with air up and down.... still dont know what its all about but some old lady came out of the otherside with a nose bleed! Bizarre. Got up today at 630am for the mission to JFK airport and our onwards flight to San Francisco, CALIFORNIA!! No more sub zero weather, bring it on! Hopefully i will update again before we begin to travel down the coast to LA.
Wish you could all be here too but if your jobs are that important to you then i guess you have to keep slaving on for the man.... Hey, leave us a message (whether of love or hatred) or send us an email and let me know whats been a gwan. In the meantime i will keep rockin it a few thousand miles away for you all, peace out and stay cool peeps,
Adam das Fotza x
p.s. please check back in a couple of days to see some pics!
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billy boner
non-member comment
you gits!!!
dudes! sounds like a great start to your trip! glad you're havin fun...despite the freezing weather... makes me wish i didn't have to stay in this country for the next god-knows-how-long! not much been goin on here, jus the usuall. jus missin you dudes! *sniff* anyways, i will look forward to hearin from you soon, will ;0)